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Kashmiri bus passengers cross India-Pakistan Line of Control

After more than 50 years

Posted: Friday, April 08, 2005

By Tim Sullivan and Matthew PenningtonAssociated Press

ON THE INDIA-PAKISTAN LINE OF CONTROL - Greeted by cheers, tears and dancing, bus riders made a historic crossing Thursday at the military boundary that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, walking across a metal bridge in a move both sides hope will lead to lasting peace.

Most of the passengers had been cut off from relatives by more than a half century of bloodshed in the subcontinent, and some wept as they crossed the Line of Control, kneeling to kiss the ground.

"We have done this very late," said Nissar Ahmed Mir, 66, fighting tears as he stepped from the bus in the Indian town of Salamabad, where Indian officials feted passengers from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir with traditional dancing and food.

"We should have come home long ago," said Mir, who was returning to the Indian side for the first time since 1947, when his family migrated. Then he broke down weeping.

Thousands of people lined the route of the buses in Indian Kashmir to welcome the passengers, whistling and cheering. It was a significant public statement in a region that long ago became profoundly cynical about nearly any government initiative.

The bus service was launched despite an attack the day before in Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, by suspected Islamic militants who stormed the government tourism complex where passengers were staying. Six people were wounded in the gunbattle, part of the complex was destroyed by fire and two militants were killed, but the passengers escaped unharmed.